


Earth Below Us (Hiatus)

by brave_hearted_hero



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Codependency, Depression, Drugs, Emotional Hurt, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Marijuana, Pills, Slow Burn, Slurs, Suicidal Thoughts, Time Skips, Weed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-10-25 00:29:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20715098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brave_hearted_hero/pseuds/brave_hearted_hero
Summary: When Zim finally returns to Earth after over a decade, Dib thinks everything can finally go back to normal. It does, only for a while, before it becomes increasingly obvious nothing is ever going to be the same. Maybe together they can figure out how to live on this pitiful planet.





	1. Meteor Shower

**Author's Note:**

> I am SO sorry I am not updating my BNHA fic and instead starting this one. I feel like I'm 12 again, though, and I don't think I'm going to stop.

Dib smooths his hair back and sighs into the cold evening air. A long strand dangles in his peripheral and he tucks it back behind his ear. He’s been up on the roof for hours, and before that, years. Not always this roof, other roofs too, but if Zim were to come home, this shitty little town with the pathetic skool and its grotesque citizens, he’d come here. It’d only make sense. When he’s not working himself to the bone, his sister can find him wasting away with his eye glued to his telescope.

“Dib,” she calls out his bedroom window. She stares up at the edge of the roof until Dib’s tired expression peers over the edge.

“Oh, come on, Dib,” Gaz sighs. She clambers up after him. Dib makes room for her, placing his headset beside him and laying back. Above him the sky was so large. Every bit of it so overwhelmingly big. So many stars and planets. Zim could be anywhere. He could even be gone forever.

“How long are you going to keep this up?” Gaz prods, looking off at the skyline. Their father’s lab stands as the tallest building, the windows glowing. He’s almost never home anymore. Dib remains silent behind her. She knows he could do this forever. Forever and ever and ever. Until he dies or Zim returns. 

“He’s not coming back.” It feels like talking to a wall. She fixes her gaze onto her brother, watching his exhausted eyes stare at nothing. Does he still look even without his gear?

“Dib.”

“Gaz,” he finally speaks, irritation heavy in his tone for just a second. After a small sigh, he follows with a defeated, “What...”

She frowns, laying beside him and squinting up at the same stars. They’re blurry, hardly even visible on the black expanse. She considers glasses, but only at times like these. Maybe she could see what Dib sees for once. If she could, perhaps she’d understand.

“You need to let it go.” Dib sniffles. “You’re wasting your life... You’re worrying me, you’re acting like Dad...”

He turns his head slightly, so he can see her. She doesn’t move, and he wonders if she’s right. He has been acting like their dad. Neither of them would ever call that a good thing. Dib looks back up at the sky, pleading to no one that he’d see something, anything. A shooting star he can pretend is Zim.

“I don’t... want to let it go.” Dib combs his hand through his hair. “I’m not ready to. It’s all I want to do, I have no friends anyways. You wouldn’t understand.”

Gaz feels irritation stiffen her jaw. “Oh, fucking come on, Dib!” she seethes, “I may be your sister, but I’m your friend too. You’re allowed to ask me to hang out and smoke pot and let me comment on your nerdy homework.”

Dib watches as she gets up to leave, one foot in the window and her head peeking over the roof's edge.

“You need to figure this out. You’re getting too old to be crypid hunting.”

After she’s gone, Dib groans. Maybe she’s exactly right. Maybe he should just grow up.

He shuts the lid of his tools and scoops the telescope into his arms. It’s routine for him by this point. Reentering his room after another luckless night. Gaz is sitting in his desk chair, playing another game on the newest version of the Game Slave. They both had interests that wouldn’t die, but he can’t help but feel irritated that she’d suggested  _ he _ had a problem. She knows very well how hypocritical it was, but when has that stopped her. It’s not like the Game Slave made her sound crazy like how aliens outcasted Dib.

“What are you playing?”

“Same games I have been playing.” She turns in a circle in his chair. Dib puts away his things beneath his bed then collapses on it.

“You know that I was never happier than when Zim arrived, right?”

He can hear Gaz sigh, her hands no longer frantically pressing buttons. The lid clicks shut as she puts away her game and leans back in her seat.

“Yeah.”

“And you know that without him it’s been...” He struggles.

“Lonely?”

Dib turns over in his bed shamefully.

“Dib, listen,” Gaz says with a sudden sharp tone, “It’s been years since he left. He probably doesn’t even remember you anymore. Why would he come back? You saw the technology he had, why would he need us?”

The man wrinkles his nose. He knows she wanted to say you, not us. Why would he need you? He doesn’t, but Dib doesn’t know why he still tries to lock for him.

“You don’t know that,” he mumbles weakly, unconfident.

She groans again.

“Zim was the only one who kinda understood what it was like. He was treated just like me, and even though we didn’t like each other, he gave me a reason to keep living and exploring this world. For fuck’s sake Gaz, look at where I am! I’m doing so many amazing things and it’s because of Zim! I just thought maybe... someday... I could thank him...”

He curls into a ball, the sheets cold and thin. His blanket still on the floor from when it fell off that morning.

“I guess it’s time to find another muse, Dib.” Gaz stands up to toss his blanket onto him, a heap of fabric covering his head. His muffled voice still manages to reach her, even with heartache softening it.

“What did I even do before him?”

“You hunted other things. Why don’t you find Bigfoot? He could be your new frienemy.”

She hears him scoff. Underneath the navy blanket he rubs his aching eyes and groans a whiny sort of groan.

“It’s just a suggestion. Night.”

The door shuts and Dib’s left alone in his room. No doubt she was just tired of his mopey ass. In about half an hour he’ll smell the stench of weed waft in from the crack under his door. He sorta wish he could join her, but he’s too afraid to disappoint her any further. He’s never going to let Zim go, and that breaks her heart. Seeing her brother so fucked up about someone who left when he was 13. It’s been a decade already. It’s surely a wonder how he could cling so desperately to hope that is practically nonexistent.

Dib breathes hotly under the covers, suffocating for just a couple minutes before shoving the blanket out of the way. Get over it. Zim is gone.

The dread sinks into his chest. He squeezes his eyes shut and takes his glasses off. He rubs one of his eyes with his palm and sighs, defeated. He has no choice but to admit defeat.

He turns away from the glow of his monitors, smothering his sorrow with his pillow. He falls asleep just minutes before his computer beeps softly. An alert of a familiar piece of foreign technology appears on his map. It’s miles from his location, slowly but steadily approaching on foot. Dib won’t know until morning.

Some time in the middle of the night, it stops moving.


	2. Let’s Go

When Dib wakes up it’s late in the morning. The sun shines in his eyes and he groans, rolling over and rubbing the sleep away. Slowly, bit by bit he rises out of bed and jostles a bottle of pills, takes one, pinches it between his lips and stumbles out of his room, past his computer trying to alert him. He swallows the pill dry, just wanting it to do its job already and fix his depression. He knows that isn’t how it works, but he can still wish.

In the empty living room he can hear loud music from his sister’s room drift out from behind her door and down stairs. He wonders how she can sleep through that. He moves on into the kitchen to look for something to eat. His stomach growls, but everything they have looks terrible. He’d rather starve than stomach a repulsive bowl of Cheerios.

He sighs, picking up the milk and pouring himself a glass, drinking it before pouring another and drinking that too. He puts away the gallon and places his cup in the sink to go upstairs and sulk in his bed.

Pushing open his door he finally notices the blinking light on his computer. Suddenly he’s frozen. His blood runs cold and he stiffens in the doorway to stare at a light he hasn’t seen in 10 years. He feels the weight of the world crush him all at once.

Dib darts to his computer, opening his windows and scanning the data. It couldn’t be, and yet there it was. A small dot indicating a location about 50 miles away. Supposedly it hasn’t moved in hours, and it was only picked up by Dib’s local radar when it approached the town. It stopped just after it was in range. Zim.

“Gaz,” Dib’s breath came out choked.

“Gaz!” He leaps out of his chair, energetic and excited. “Gaz! Oh my fucking God, Gaz! He’s back! Zim’s back!”

He raps on his sister’s door until her exhausted form swings it open. He takes a cautious step backwards but retains all of his giddiness.

“He’s back, Gaz! Come look! Look!” He darts over to the door of his room, looking back to see if his sister is following. He looks like a pathetic dog.

“Zim’s never coming back, Dib, come on...” she whines, sleep heavy in her voice.

“No, you don’t understand he’s here! I have to go get him, I have to...”

Gaz watches Dib zip into his room to pack his things. Alien hunting gear and a location. He runs into the kitchen to take the rest of the snacks and only then does Gaz teeter after him.

“You fag! Don’t take all the cookies!” she shouts, trying to pry them from his hands.

“They’re for Zim!” he counters, picking up a different package of treats and running the opposite direction.

Gaz scowls, following close behind. She wants her snacks back.

“Shut  _ up _ , Dib! He’s gone!”

Her words never penetrated the aura of excitement that surrounded Dib.

“I’m going to see him again! Bye, Gaz!” He swings open the front door and slams it shut, the action rattling the house. Inside, his sister groans, slumping onto the couch with a package of Oreos nestled in her arms for a nap. Outside, Dib flings his things over the console and seats himself behind the wheel. With reckless ambition, he steers out of the driveway and toward the general location of the little dot he saw on his computer. A handful of pixels that fueled him with hope and happiness.

As he drives, the sun hides behind the clouds and makes for a pleasant drive the hour out to where Zim should be. The trees grow dense as he travels down roads he’s never heard of, blocking out the sun further and leaving the headlights to cast an ominous glow through the thickening fog. He parks in the mud on the side of the road and makes a face as he sinks into the ground a little. It’s time to get to work.

On his phone, he enters the coordinates to continue on foot. He should be anywhere now, he’s so close. Dib rushes across the street with his eyes glued to his phone. Once his location appears over where Zim should have been he clears his throat.

“Zim?” Dib calls out, rousing the little green creature awake. He stares out of the broad window of his ship at Dib and scowls. He taps the console to make sure the invisibility cloak is still on, and thankfully, it is. It ends up not mattering as Dib approaches it and topples into the glass, bewildered.

His greasy fingers leave prints all over the outside and Zim seethes.

“Stop it!” he hisses, Dib cupping his hands to attempt to see inside.

“Zim? Is that you?”

“Go away Dib-stink!”

Zim slumps into his seat in exhaustion as Dib’s lips split into a smile.

“Oh my God I found you!” He feels the outside of the ship for a sense of what he was holding and trying to find a way to open it.

“I wish you would un-find me,” Zim grumbles, but Dib couldn’t hear him. He uses his heel to press a button, opening the lock and letting Dib throw himself at him. Maybe he would kill him finally.

Zim lets out a pained grunt, whimpering in a choked voice and breathing heavily. Dib’s arms crushed his broken bones and probably fractured some more. He tried not to discourage the human from finishing the job with his noises, but Dib sits back anyways and looks at him with worried eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, and Zim feels like assaulting him.

“I’m dying. Do what you want and kill me already.”

Dib shakes his head, taken aback. He stands with one foot in the ship and the other lagging behind. He can feel the ship teeter, not exactly stable under the new weight.

“I can’t kill you,” Dib says dumbly.

“Oh, right, you need me alive for the dissection.” Yes, that’s it exactly. Dib nods his head and Zim curls around himself once more. it’s only then does Dib notice the lifeless metal being beside him. Gir’s head had a decently sized dent in it, perhaps the cause of his inability to function. The rest of his body is in shambles, missing bolts and even one of his feet altogether. He didn’t notice the way Zim is mourning the loss when he first entered the ship. His heart feels as if it’s being strangled. He hasn’t been coping well.

Dib thinks for a moment, looking around at the trashed cabin and Zim’s small frail form. He’s crying now. It feels bad to watch, so Dib turns away. After a moment, he leans over to scoop the alien into his arms. It’s only then does he realize Zim’s wearing his old trench coat. It’s slightly endearing. He’s also missing a glove and the rest of his outfit looks worn and tattered. Dib can’t see his PAK entirely, but he can tell at least one of the pink panels has been broken off.

“Stop,” Zim scowls before writhing in his arms, “Stop, you worm. Gir...” His voice fades at his companions name as a newfound sadness overwhelms him. He can’t formulate another sentence, not only the words but his breath catching in his throat.

Dib merely takes the robot into his other arm and tucks him into Zim’s chest. Zim clings to Gir carefully, sniffling against the cold metal. It’s difficult to watch.

Dib begins the trek back to his car, careful not to jostle his enemy too much in case he aggravated his injuries. He didn’t know why he felt it necessary to help him, but it did. He knocks his bag of snacks onto the floor, hoping the other gear inside would be fine. Nothing has ever caused it to break in the past, so a little drop to the floorboard can’t be harmful. Zim winces as the seatbelt crosses his body, pressing against his sore muscles and keeping him stationary.

“Unhand me,” he scowls, but hardly lifts his head once Gir was placed in his arms once again. Dib sees him flinch as the heavy metal torso leans against his gloved arm. It must be broken.

“I have some cookies, you can have them,” Dib digs in his back and pulls out a box of wafer cookies, setting them beside Zim and shutting the door. The car wobbles slightly and Zim side eyes the cookies. Dib enters the vehicle from the other side and starts it. The ride home consists of stupid pop music from the radio and Zim occasionally gnawing reluctantly on a wafer. Gir would have loved these. They were so sweet, just up his alley.

Once home, Dib shoulders his bag and carries Zim and Gir inside. The soft voice coming from her brother piques Gaz’s curiosity as he walks past her room.

“I don’t know how to help you without picking you apart.”

The girl pauses her game and follows after him, pushing past his bedroom door to see Dib gently placing Zim into his bed. She’s surprised, more than she’s concerned. Zim, after so many years, here, right now, in her brother’s room.

“I don’t need your help!” Zim cries out in exasperation.

“I want to, I’m trying...”

“I’d rather die!” Zim snaps, taking Dib aback. He pulls himself away and watches as the small green alien curls around Gir once again and stops moving.

Gaz scratches her head and steps aside as Dib stumbles past her out of the room. He looks rough, hand covering his mouth loosely. He finds it hard to believe Zim would be so aggressive, but it sort of makes sense. He wishes it didn’t hurt so much to hear.

He walks circles around the kitchen, thinking. He can make Zim a meal, or leave him alone. Gaz leans against the doorframe and crosses her arms at him.

“Hey.”

“Did you see how he was acting?” Dib paces faster, and Gaz sighs.

“Yeah, it’s almost as if you two are enemies and you brought him into your house.”

Dib glares and Gaz avoids his gaze.

“He’s leaving by the way.”

“ _ What _ ?” Dib darts past her and to his room, panicked when he sees his empty bed. Gone? He only left for a minute, and Zim’s weak body had already gotten up and made its way out and to  _ where _ ?

“Zim?” Dib calls out, listening intently for any noise that would give away his location. Dib steps into the hall and glances into the bathroom and Gaz’s bedroom before trying again. “Zim? Where did you go?”

A small clatter from downstairs alerts Dib of Zim’s presence. He can hear the front door open and he runs to stop him.

“Hey, no no no, wait!” he cries, running onto his front lawn and frantically turning in circles. “Zim! Where are you?” The edge of the urge to cry cut his throat and he swallows hard.

“Goddammit Zim,” he chokes out. Zim watches from around the corner, hiding in the neighbors bushes then teetering away on his robotic limbs with Gir in his arms. He needs to get home, to start up Computer and get the house defense systems back up. He needs to work on Gir -- he needs him alive.

Zim stumbles over houses and behind trees, attempting to remain undetected before opening the unlocked door to his home and tumbling in. He groans on the floor, struggling to kick the door shut and whimpering.

“Computer,” he whines into the carpet, “Computer... are you there?”

The silence that meets him swallows him whole. It hurts his whole body to move, and even more so to carry Gir with him to the kitchen. He calls out his mechanical legs once more to slide him slowly down the tube to the depths of his lab. He slips halfway to the bottom due to a cough that rattles his entire body, but otherwise he makes it safely to the core of his home. Once the power supply is doing its job, he can work on more pressing matters. He just needs to fix it.

Its work, and it's hard work. Zim goes through several hours and many more coughing fits before he can get most of his lab functioning. A melody plays all around him and the sounds of his annoyed computer grumbles.

“You’ve finally come back,” it growls in irritation, “You look terrible.”

Zim reclines back to lay on the floor and wraps his arms around himself.

“Computer... run a diagnosis on my PAK.”

“Whatever.”

A long and stiff mechanical arm snakes through the air to connect to Zim’s pack and gather information. Zim grunts softly, uncomfortable as he’s rolled onto his stomach.

“Systems functional.”

“Good, that’s good.” Zim remains face down even after the tendril returns from where it came. He needs to rest, maybe he can rest forever in this spot. Safe and home. With Gir by his side. The alien reaches for his loyal assistant and pulls him closer. Zim, Gir and the beautiful silence that’s making it so easy to drift off...

“Intruder detected.”

“Just ignore it.”

“Intruder identified as Dib Membrane.”

Zim scoffs and groans loudly, throwing a tantrum and turning his head to stare at the wall.

“Get rid of him!”

“Sure, fine.”

Dib stumbles backwards as the door swings open and the ill-cared for models of Mom and Dad roll out.

“Let me see him,” Dib plants his feet into the concrete, ready to fight his way in.

“Intruder,” says Mom before she trips over the threshold and collapses into a pile of rusted metal.

“Oh no!” Dad follows after her, crumbling into the same heap.

Dib lowers his stance, blinking at the mess as he processes what has happened. He expected more, but after being left to waste away for so long, he couldn’t imagine what there is to expect.

Garden gnomes behind him rock in the grass, too weak to even approach him.

He almost feels sorry.

“Zim!” he calls again, stepping over the rubble and looking around the decaying living room.

“Get him out, Computer! Out!”

“ _ Yes _ , Your Highness,” Computer mocks, picking Dib up with an old mechanical arm and grunting when it breaks.

“I said, ‘Get him out!’ Not, ‘Break more things for Zim to fix!’”

“I’m sorry, why don’t you control the house and I can lay on the floor?”

Zim growls, punching the ground and writhing.

“Just do something then! Don’t let him down!”

“I think it’s too late for that.”

Zim cranes his neck to peer at the screen, gasping as he watches Dib squeeze himself into the trash can. The tube that leads right to him!

“Oh for the love of— Computer!”

“What now?”

“Hide me, I don’t want to see him.”

Zim ignores the prolonged groan as he’s lifted and hidden away out of sight as Dib stumbles on his landing.

He gazes around the dusty lab at all the alien technology, eyes wide.

“Woah...” he murmurs, stepping cautiously over stray tubes and wires.

“Hello?”

“What are you doing here?”

Dib stumbles as a loud booming voice surrounds him, one he doesn’t recognize.

“U-uh... Looking for Zim?”

“Who?”

“Z-Zim...?” Dib squints around him, trying to figure out what is happening.

“Who’s Zim?”

Zim groans in annoyance at the exchange, unfortunately also catching Dib’s attention.

“Zim!” he says, pleased as he circles around to where the alien is hung on the wall.

“Oh no! He found out!” Computer’s voice exclaims in mock surprise, gently laying Zim back onto the ground.

Zim scowls and Dib kneels beside him, attempting to scoop him into his arms like he did when he first found him only to be met with genuine resistance. He was met with claws against his chest and a foot to the jaw.

“Ow! Zim!” Dib tries to grab his wrists, dropping them almost immediately when Zim gasps and chokes out a pained cry only to be met with another angry growl and foot. “I’m trying to help.”

“I don’t  _ need _ your help! Take what you call a hint and go away!” Zim snarls and weakly drags himself away. He nurses his arm and stares at Dib intensely, evoking a sense of discomfort into Dib’s core.

He sits back on his feet, propped up on his toes, and chews on his inner cheek. He can’t understand why Zim’s acting so hostile. Why is he glaring at him like that?

Dib rubs his legs, watching Zim flinch. He didn’t have pupils, but after knowing him for so long, it isn’t hard to tell he’s gazing back and forth between Dib’s hands and his face. The man sighs, shifting to sit properly with his knees up.

“Fuck...” he groans, crossing his arms and resting his head on them. He hears Zim scuttle away, feeling his presence leave and his breathing quiet. This isn’t what he wanted, he didn’t expect Zim to be so cold after leaving  _ him _ alone forever. When he peers over his arms, the ground is empty. Dib lays on his back and stares up at the criss-crossing tubes tangling the high ceilings.

“Goddammit... I’m... Why won’t you let me help...?” Dib searches the ceiling as if he’ll suddenly see Zim clamoring above.

“I don’t need your smelly hands touching me,” Zim hissed somewhere to Dib’s left. He turns to look, catching a glimpse of Zim’s back disappear around the corner.

“Then let me do something else.”

“If you want to be useful, leave.”

Dib winces.

“Can I... help you reach things from high places?”

“Nonsense! That is what Computer is for.” Zim’s antennae bounce into view before the rest of him. “Computer! Give me my tools.”

Dib sits up as a metallic thunk echoes off the walls. He sees a large metal arm reach up above Zim’s head and grip the outline of what looks like might be an Irken toolbox. He can feel the smugness radiate from the green-skinned creature until the sound of metal snapping forced both of them to look up as the arm falls limp, its claw snug on the tools.

“Uh-huh,” Dib hums as Zim’s smug demeanor turns sour.

“Silence!” He sinks down onto the floor, throwing another tantrum. Another failure sends him quickly into another fit of loathing. Dib frowns.

“Here,” Dib stands up, picking up the toolkit and setting it down beside Zim. The alien begrudgingly pulls it closer, opening it to examine the contents. After a few moments, Zim exclaims in frustration, kicking the box away and wincing. He growls, curling into a ball and lowering his antenna.

Dib squats beside him like before, peering into the box.

“What do you need? Maybe I have something.”

“A small bludgeon.”

Dib processes for a moment.

“A hammer?”

“Sure, yeah that.”

“I have a hammer.”

Zim doesn’t respond.

“I’ll go get it, and other tools too, I’ll be right back.” Dib stands up straight and takes a couple steps away, glancing back at Zim’s small form with a frown.

“Computer? Can you help me back up?”

“Yeah whatever.”

A tube lowers, sucking Dib up into it and ejecting him into the living room in a heap. Dib jumped up and darted out to grab his tool box to help Zim, no time to rub his ass, it wont be sore forever.


End file.
